AMERICAN SEAFOOD

Heritage, Culture & Cookery from Sea to Shining Sea

Barton Seaver, renowned author and chef, is proud to introduce his latest work. A book for foodies, anglers, cooks, and history buffs, American Seafood is the essential guide to more than 500 species, as well as a riveting history of one of our country’s most iconic industries.

At the heart of the narrative are exhaustively researched, vividly detailed culinary and anthropological sketches that provide a master class in all of the dynamic ingredients the sea has to offer. Through essays, masterfully written in Seaver’s elegant and authoritative prose, and thoughtfully curated artwork, this 528-page book supplies a refreshing, fascinating, and timely social history of our maritime nation, one built upon the bounty of America’s oceans and fueled by the dreams of generations of immigrants.

Though the species in our waters have remained mostly constant, preservation methods, innovations in transport and cold storage, population growth, and the inclusion of immigrant cultures into our society have transformed the culinary narrative of seafood in America. Through the years, traditional preparations such as smoking and salting have given way to new traditions based on fresh fish and greater access to diversity of species. Seaver documents these changes in great detail, demonstrating how shifts in consumer demand are both drivers and the results of influences of an era.

Informed by a career that has focused on cooking and writing about seafood, his experiences living in communities where fishing traditions span generations, and listening to old salts spinning yarns in barrooms, Seaver brings the story of America’s fishermen to life in these pages, and proudly celebrates the people, products, and places that have captivated him since childhood.